Do 2020 candidates care about criminal justice?

Author Ed Chung urges 2020 presidential candidates to place more of an emphasis on the need for criminal justice reform.

Last month, criminal justice reform became an issue in the 2020 presidential elections in a manner befitting the Trump era: through a series of tweets from the president on Memorial Day insulting his potential Democratic rivals.

Trump first declared that anyone associated with the 1994 Crime Bill, the sweeping legislation known for exacerbating mass incarceration, was “unelectable.” He then pronounced himself to be “responsible for criminal justice reform” because he signed the FIRST STEP Act into law, even though some of the most ardent supporters of the federal sentencing and prison reform bill say the legislation is but an incremental step.

The above excerpt was originally published in USA Today. Click here to view the full article.

The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here. American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible.